Carrier cartons



Feb. 1l, 1958 P. A. TOENSMEIER CARRIER CARTONS Filed Deo. 20. 1956 ATT9B NEYS United States Patent O CARRIER CARTONS Patrick A. Toensmeier, Hamden, Conn., assignor to The New Haven Board & Carton Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application December 20, 1956, Serial No. 629,647

2 Claims. (Cl. 294-'87.2)

This invention relates to cartons for carrying containers having necks with circumferential enlargements, examples of such a container being a bottle having a circumferential bead around its neck or a bottle or a cone topped can closed by a crown cap, the crimped edge of which serves as the enlargement. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a new carrier for containers of the type described, which is of simple and inexpensive construction, holds the containers securely, and can be easily formed from a blank and loaded and unloaded.

The carrier of the invention is made of a blank of paperboard and cut and creased to provide a top and two side walls. The top is made of an inner and an outer to"p wall and the two top walls have registering openings in a row. The openings through the inner top wall permit the enlargements on the container to be passed freely therethrough, while the openings through the outer top wall are of such size and so formed that the enlargements may be passed through the openings, after which 'the edges of the openings spring back to engage the enlargements from beneath, so that the outer top wall serves as a means for lifting the containers. The blank is also formed with partition members secured to the side walls along fold lines inclined to the vertical and the members are foldable on such lines to positions, in which the members define compartments receiving the containers and holding them against movement relative to the top walls and to one another.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank for making one form of the new carrier for holding a single row of bottles with crown caps;

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation showing the carrier formed of the blank of Fig. 1, with a bottle in place in the carrier;

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective, with parts broken away, of the carrier shown in Fig. 2, with a full load of bottles; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary end view of a modified form of the carrier, in which the inner and outer top walls are secured together adhesively.

The blank shown in Fig. 1 is for use in making a form of the new carrier for holding four bottles with crown caps in a single row and, at one end, the blank has an outer top wall section 11 separated by a fold line 12 from a side wall section 13, the fold line being made up of alternate cut and creased sections. At the other end, the blank has an inner top wall section 14 separated by a fold line 15 of cut and creased sections from a side wall 16, which is similar to the side wall 13. The top wall section 11 is formed with four openings 17 lying in a row, with each opening defined by radial tongues 17a. The openings are of a diameter less than the diameter of the enlargement of the neck of the bottle B to be carried in the carton, such enlargementA being the liuted edge 18a of the crown cap 18 on the bottle. The caps rifice.

2 on the bottles can be passed through the openings 17 by exing the tongues 17a and, after the caps have thus been inserted through the openings, the tongues spring back beneath the uted edges 18a of the caps and provide a means for supporting the bottles. The inner top wall has four openings 19, which are of a size to permit the crown caps on the bottles to pass freely therethrough.

The adjacent ends of the side walls 13, 16 are connected by groups of partition members 20, which are arranged in pairs with the members of each pair separated by a cutout 21 defined by edges concave to each other. The odd partition members 20a of the group are connected to the side walls 13, 16 along inclined crease lines 22, 23, which terminate near the opposite ends of the cutouts 21. Similarly, the even partition members 20a are connected to the side walls 13, 16 along inclined crease lines 24, 25, which terminate near the opposite ends of the cutouts 21. The crease lines 22 and 23 lie parallel to the crease lines 25 and 24, respectively, and curved slits 26 at opposite ends of the cutouts 21` connect the crease lines 22, 24 and the crease lines 23, 25. The second and third partition members 20h, 20a are separated by a fold line 27 made up of alternate cut and creased sections and extending lengthwise of the blank, and the forth and fifth partition members 20b, 20a and the sixth and seventh partition members 20b, 20a are separated by fold lines 28, 29, respectively, which are similar to the fold line 27. A pair of transverse crease lines 30, 31 cross the partition members 20a, 20b at the inner ends of the crease lines 22, 24 and 23, 25.

The blank is converted into a carrier by folding it on crease lines 30, 31 to cause the side walls 13, 16 to lie parallel, after which the blank is folded on fold lines 12, 15 to cause the outer and inner top walls 11, 14 to lie face to face and at right angles to the side walls. With the blank in this condition, the partition members 20 lie in a plane parallel to the top walls. While the carrier is thus held, the partition members 20a, 2Gb of each pair are folded inwardly toward the top walls along the crease lines 22, 23 and 24, 25 and, when the partition members have been folded as described, the members of each pair extend convergently toward the top walls and define a bottle compartment, which is aligned with a pair of openings 17, 19 through the top walls. The neck of the bottle can be inserted into such a compartment and forced inwardly until its cap passes through the openings in the inner and outer top walls. In passing through the opening 17, the cap of the bottle tiexes the tongue 17a and, as soon as the fluted edge of the cap has passed the tongues, they spring back beneath the edge of the cap in position to support the bottle. At the same time, the insertion of the bottle through the compartment has distorted the partition members, so that these members grip the bottle tightly.

When the carrier has been fully loaded, as described, the bottles are supported by engagement of their caps with the tongues on the outer top wall and the individual bottles are held firmly in place against movement relative to the top wall and to one another by the partition members gripping the sides of the bottles. Preferably, the length of the side walls is such that each pair of partition members 20 engages a bottle at about the place where the neck of the bottle merges with the body.

In the construction above described, the blank is formed into a carrier by folding operations only and the inner and outer top walls are not secured together. If desired, the top walls may be secured to each other adhesively, so that the blank is converted into a carrier, which can be collapsed for shipment and then erected just before being loaded. The only difference between thevtwo forms of the carrier `is that the carrier, in which the outer top wall 11 `is-afxed to the -inner'topwall 14', has a glue flap 32 as an extension on the inner top wall 14 and, when the blank is to be converted into a carrier, the inner and outer top walls are secured together by adliesivearidthev glue'flap is similarly secured `against the' inner face of theside-wall 13.V The'blank thus glued can be collapsed to flat form for shipment and, whenfthe carrier is to be loaded, the blank is squared toform a tube. The partition members at the lower end of the tube 4may then be folded inward to form bottle compartments andthe carrier may beloaded* in the manner previously described.

Inthe new carrier, the containers arermly gripped by-the -pairs of partition members'20 because the folding ofthe members inwardly causes the members of( each pair to yextend convergently upward. The reason for this is that the fold lines 22, 24 at one end of eachpair of members denevan angle in excess of 100 and,- preferably, between 110 and 120and the f old lines23,`25 at the other end of the pair of members dene asimilar angle. -If the angles between the pairs of foldlines'were 90, the inward folding of the partitionV membersof a pair lwould cause the members to lie parallel' to each other, but, when the angle mentioned is greaterjthan 100, the inward folding of a pair of Vmembers'causes them to converge upwardly. As a result, whenfthe neck of a container is Ainserted in a compartment'between a pairA of partition members, the membersmust be-"distorted as the insertion proceeds and, because ofgsuch distortion, the members grip the container-tightly.

This application is a continuation-impart of'myj. copending applications Serial No. 542,258, ledOct'ober 24, 61955,A and Serial No. 567,672, vled February"24, 195

I claim:

1.v A carrier for a row of containers each having a body and a neck with a circumferential enlargement, which comprises an inner and an outer top wall each having a row of openings for the ends of the necks of respective containers, the openings through the inner top wall permitting the enlargements to pass freely and the openings through the outer top wall being defined by deformable edges of less diameter than the enlargements and adapted tov permit passage of the enlargements through the openings andV to engage the enlargements from -beneath.-.tosupport the containers, a pair of side walls extending downward ,from the remote edges of the inner andouter top walls, respectively, and pairs of partition members attached at their ends to the lower ends of respective side ,walls alongfold lines lying at an angle to the vertical, the fold lines at like ends of the members of a pair extending along the respective faces of the side walls, converging toward one another and defining-anv angle substantially in excess of and the membersbeing foldable on such lines into the space between'the sidewalls to form compartments for receiving thejupper endsof the container.

2. The fcarrier Aof claim 'y 1,V in which the inner and outer topwalls-arel adhesively afxed to eachother and a glue Y'aplis attached to'the'free end edge of the inner top wall,k and' aixedlbyj adhesive to 'theinner surface of the side wall' connected totheV outer topwall.

*References Cited in the jle of this patent UNITED STATESV PATENTS 

